The moment I told the boys if they want to go to the amusement park, I earned two hard judgeful looks. Seungmin probably thought my brain cells got completely burned down from all the nerve wrecking events, but the truth is, as I said before I want Squirrely to experience some outdoors things and to simply have fun.
On the other hand, Squirrely was quite excited on the thought of going somewhere after 12 years. On the beginning he seemed surprised, but later on he started excitedly jumping on his seat like a 5 years old kid. We drove to the amusement park and his jaw dropped when he saw the big rides, as well as the small crowds in front of the entrance.
And this is how we end up here. Using our small amount of money to pay for the tickets. I really have to thank Seungmin, because I had no idea where the amusement park is in Seoul, I just knew it exits. If he wouldn't agree to this, we would never be able to come on our own because of course, Min Jieun doesn't know the damn directions. Anyways, we enter the park slowly with Squirrely excitedly looking around, with the white mask on his nose and cap over his head.
We made it clear in the car already that people can't see our faces, since we've been on the news a couple of times by now, so a lot of people have seen our faces. Maybe it looks weird or attracts even more attention on us, but it's the only way. To be honest, I don't think they would recognize Squirrely. I mean he has so much more fat now, and his face is so much bigger without his eyes looking like a dead man's eyes. He is more alive than on the pictures.
But one thing that I'm worried about is the way he looks at other people. Every time someone comes closer to him, he squeezes himself closer to me trying not to make any contact with the person, or even if they are not as close, he still tries to get as far as possible. I noticed it as soon as we entered inside where more people are gathered, and after a few seconds of watching him uncomfortable switching his body left and right, I pull him by his hand in between me and Seungmin.
My hand never leaves his as we keep waking forward, I also try to redirect his concentration to some of the raids or food. I don't really know if he manages to calm down his racing heart just because me and Seungmin are right next to him, or because of my fingers around his, but I will do my best to make him enjoy the day.
We enter a couple of rides laughing and having fun as we should, before I kinda force the boys to take on of the more extreme rides. The pirate ship a.k.a. the Viking ride. The moment we enter and sit down on out seats, Squirrely's eyes immediately start switching from the steady ground, to the swinging ship. The ride slowly starts, and he immediately grabs the safety bar in front of himself.
"Wow, wo, woo, wooooo, woooooo!!" He tenses up his body as we keep going closer and closer to the sky. "WOOOOOOO AAaAAaaaaAAAAGGGgGGgGGGhhHHHHHhhhHH!!" His scream fills up the entire space around my ears, and in the next moment he grabs my hand harder then ever before, and squeezes himself closer to me. It's ironic how on his left Seungmin is genuinely having fun, with his hands in the air, and a smile spread on his face.
"WHY DOES IT GO SO HIGH UPPPPP!!" As I look to the side at him, a smile appeared on my lips. This is how it should be. This is how his life should have gone by. Scream out of fear, laugh out of joy. Not locked up in between four walls like a rat.
I watch his mouth open and close after every single scream, and his eyes that are once winded as much as possible, but then in the next moment shut tight together immediately. It's cute... he's terrified to death, but it's cute.
I stare at his face, until I feel the ride slowing down, and the moment it stops, he just sits back and freezes on the spot like a statue. It takes him a few seconds to get up before walk out, with me and Seungmin quietly following behind. As soon as he gets to the steady ground, he falls down on his knees and leans down kissing the ground.
"Let's be best friends from now on." He says as he leans his forehead on the ground and stays like that for a few seconds, before I pull him up by his jacket.
"Why did you kiss the ground you fool, it's dirty." I say and wipe his lips with my sleeve, even though I have no idea how it helps in this case.
"Let's stay close to the ground. I'm begging you guys!!" He wines as his hands clap together, and spread in front of my nose. Is he afraid of heights. Damn, him and Minho fit perfectly when it comes to places like this.
"Ok, Ok, we won't go on any scary rides." I assure him and pull his hands down. "Are you hungry??" I ask as my eyes wander to the clock. Since we counted on Minho to bring some real food, didn't really eat much, we didn't even have much to eat.
"I am. I want to eat something delicious. Something that is not burned or undercooked by you or Minho hyung and something that's not nodules." He says as his eyes go to the stalls not to far away from us. He points his finger to one of them, and quickly turns his head back to me. "I want that." With a smile on his face, he takes my hand and drags me toward the street food stall, with Seungmin quietly following behind.
"Ooooo, that looks good too. Can we get that as well??" He points toward the corn dogs. I don't really know how much money we have right now, but I'm always ready to pay Seungmin a debt just for this happy energy ball in front of me. I look toward him in hopes I get some money support, only to see him already pulling his wallet out. I don't know if I'm surprised or not since be has been a sweat heart since always, but I sure am thankful.
"Get anything you want. I will treat you guys today." He says, as he checks the amount of money inside his wallet. Since he has been stuck with us for 2 weeks now, he didn't really get to spent much of his money. Mostly me and Minho paid for the food and let him keep his money, since he never planed to end up with us in the first place, and not to mention me and Minho are not that broke when we put our money together. We sure had enough to feed 4 adults.
"Thank you Seungmin-ah." Squirrely makes a weird yet funny face and shows a thumbs up before turning to the food. After buying a corn dog for each of us, Squirrely wishes for an odeng (fish cake) which Seungmin gives to him. We keep walking through the small area with food stalls, and every time an aroma catches Squirrely's attention, he turns around immediately with a weird grin on his face and shoots Seungmin a look. He picks up a lot of food, even though he's probably not going to manage to eat it all. He can't eat an entire kimbap, after eating a corn dog, odeng, and pajeon (savory pancake). We sit down on one of the tables in front of the stalls and silently take a bite of the kimbap in front of us.
Haven't we been taking our masks off to much lately though. What if someone recognizes us and reports us. That would be such a pain in the ass man.
"Wow ths i soo gud." Squirrely try's to speak with his full mouth. How he fills up his cheeks with food every time he eats is really fascinating, I mean he could store food in there and eat it an hour later. I wonder how much space does he have inside his mouth.
Suddenly the though from this morning comes to my mind. I look at him who is still enjoying his food and without thinking the words shoot from my mouth.
"Squirrely, do you want to live with me and Minho after tomorrow??" His head turns toward me with a confused expression on his face.
"Bu we ae aleadyy livi toheter." He doesn't get the question does he... ahhhh. I let out a sight and everyone's attention suddenly turns to me. I have a feeling like I just turned the entire atmosphere in a very depressed one.
"Wh?? What wong??" Squirrely asks.
"Don't talk with a full mouth." I suddenly scold him, but not with a way to serious tone, so it wouldn't destroy his mood.
"Ok." He says with a smile, and right after gulps down his food.
"Have you thought about where we are going to stay tonight??" Seungmin asks. "I thought it will be the best if we go to some cheap motel."
"That's probably the only solution we have right now. It's not like we are high on budget neither, and after all, it's only for a night." As I say that my hand reaches for another piece of kimbap and my eyes catch a figure behind Squirrely. Well, his uniform catches my attention more than the actual person, since he has 'security' written all over his chest. Shit. Why is he headed this way.
"Security. We need to go." I slam my hand on the table, and before Seungmin gets to turn his head I shake my head trying not to make it obvious we know. Maybe he's just passing by and I'm over reacting... or not.
"Let's split up, if he's after us, he'll go after me and Jisung so you will have enough of time to get to the car. 5 to 10 minutes, let's not take any longer. We'll meet you in front of the entrance." He just nods before standing up and walking away. My eyes go to the security guard once again, noticing how he says something in his radio. Right after, I get up and take Squirrely's hand and without loosing any more time, I drag him after me.
"What's happening?? Are we gonna get caught??" He asks with his voice slightly shaking. I look at him for a moment and notice the fear in his eyes, but right after turn my head away. I can't let him see it. I can't let him see me panicking at a situation like this.
I shake off the thought fast and check where the security guard is. He is closer with every step he takes.
"Run." As I say that my feet start moving toward the biggest crowd inside the entire amusement park. If we mix with the crowd, it will be harder to notice us, right?? I take off my cap and right after turn to Squirrely to take off his. We'll mix better with all the people hoping that if we apparel like one more black and dark brown head piking out of the crowd, he won't notice us.
I start pushing people in order for us to pass by, and that's when I catch Squirrely's heavy breath behind me. No.. not now. Damn it. He is not having a panic attack is he?? After a few seconds, he starts slowing down more and more making me turn my complete attention to him.
"It's over. We will get caught. I will have to go back. I don't want to go back." He starts mumbling even more words in the few upcoming seconds, but I can't let him attract to much attention now. I stop and pull him to the side, as far as possible from the crowd.
"Hey, hey. Listen to me." I say with the most calm and loving tone I can provide right now. "It's not over yet. I won't let them catch us ok?? Look at me." I take his face in my palms and gently lift his head up so he can look at me. "We can get out of here, you just have to trust me, ok??" He slowly nods his head and just as I'm about to turn away again, he pulls my wrist back making me look at him once again.
"I- I can't. There are to many people." My gaze returns to the crowd in front of us. The truth is, there are too many people everywhere, so we can't take a different path. And the security guard is also looking for us not to far from where we are standing right now. Not wanting to lose too much time, I just take off my jacket and throw it over his head. I peek inside only to see his surprised expression.
"Just pretend there is nobody around you. This way you don't have to look at anyone. Follow me and I promise we will get out of here in mater of seconds." He just keeps looking at me like I'm some kind of am alien, and that's when I notice how close I got to him when I 'peeked' under the jacket. Our noses are millimetres from touching, and this is a very, very, very, surprising position in this situation.
I back off leaving him alone under the jacket, and quickly collect my scattered thoughts together. I just grab him with my hands on each side of his arms and quickly start pushing in between the people again.
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